Behind The Smile
by NamelessMoonshine
Summary: As Cream's mom, Vanilla, looks back over the years, she sees her faults and how hard it is to have the child of the person who you fear....


**Disclaimer**: Vanilla's not mine, Cream's not mine, and Ivo's not mine. Sheesh, when will you people GET it??!

This is another one-shot thought up by Bil, written by me, because she's on a roll and all. This one is about Cream's mom, Vanilla (yeah, I'm actually using her real name now, though I still prefer Peaches). It's a very odd peice, brought on by Bil's question about the relationship I believe Vanilla and Robotnik have (coming soon in _Call Me Dad_, read about it on my profile). While I lean toward a more lie-based fluffy relationship, she thinks it was a brutal, abusive fling. Hence this.

Shadow: Another of these damned preposition thingies!!! -foams-

Sonic: O-o -edges away from Shadow-

Yes, I know I'm putting up a lot of these little shorties by Bil, mostly because I'm drifting between fandoms. I've rediscovered _The Great Mouse Detective_, and _SWAT Kats_, (ChibiJaime is a very good writer, so you should read some of that stuff, kay?) which means that Bil has too. She's spouting out story ideas faster than either of us can get them down. But to tell you the truth, I'm at a bit of a standstill with _Disappear_. I've got little jerks of what will happen, and the main plot of the bad guy, but all the extra information I've been collecting has formed maaaajor plot holes. We are talking big enough to fly jets through; they go in and don't reach the other side til next year. And what's worse, I think I'm starting to form a couple I had hoped to stay away from.

Shadow: Oh, you mean the whole triangle that's slowly forming as you type.

Yes, and if you don't be quiet right now, I'm going to let Chaos read what I've written so far then turn him loose on you. I'm sure you two will get along fabulously after he sees some of the junk you put poor Tikal through. And that little _incident_...

Shadow: -pales- Um...yeah, well, you wrote it.

_You_ did it.

Shadow: ....I hate you.

I know, Shadow, believe me, I know...

* * *

**Oneshot** - Behind The Smile

* * *

_The house was never clean enough, his dinner never warm enough,  
Nothing I did was ever good enough to make him happy....  
So I guess he gave me what he though I deserved,  
But it would kill me if he ever raised his hand to her...  
_- Rachel Protear, 'Me And Emily'

People usually see motherhood as either a blessing, or a chore. They think that all a mother does is coo over their child's first words and steps, rock their child to sleep at night and hum soft lullabyes to chase anyway the nightmares. They think that she is a slave to the maternal instinct, someone who can only clean up her child's messes, nurse them when they are sick, and tell them when they've done something wrong. People see these traits in mothers on the surface, and never bother to delve any deeper into the mind-set. They assume what they see is all there is to be seen, and question nothing. People usually see only the most outstanding parts of being a mother...

She looked down at the small girl tucked safely away beneath the covers and smiled at her. This was motherhood, the quiet moments between it all when you looked over at your child and knew that someday they would go on to do something great with their lives.

The child gave a loud yawn, rolling over to drape her arm across the little Neutral Chao that snored softly beside her. Her mother let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, and turned to exit the room, remembering as she always did to leave the door cracked open ever so slightly. She hadn't forgotten since the six year-old girl was a small baby, since she'd ran away.

Vanilla shuddered and tried to refocus her mind on something else, _anything_ else. It had been so long since she'd let herself be haunted by the memory of what had happened all those years ago, before her dear daughter had been born. And yet, what had brought about the birth of the sweet-tempered little girl she called her own.

_Don't think about it!!_ She chided herself. She would only bring back memories. It happened a lot now, her recalling the horrors of the person she had chosen to care for, who she had thought loved her back. _Stop it!! Stop stop stop STOP!!!_

She pressed her hands to the sides of her head, trying to blot out the thoughts that were carrying her back to him. She had tried so very hard to escape him that night, and she'd thought that by coming here she had put enough distance between them, that he would never follow her out here, to practically nowhere. She had been so sure...

...and yet, so very wrong.

Vanilla had watched for him at first. The first few days, weeks, months, had been a tense jumble of nerves and fear. She had hardly bothered to unpack, wanting to be able to run the moment his search 'bots were in sight. There was a small number of close calls, and hundreds of rumors flying everywhere. She'd taken to wearing a hooded cloak in town; she'd been very cautious at first. Then a year passed, two...three. Her daughter grew and so did Vanilla. The wanted posters with her picture no longer really looked like her; he had known her as a very young woman, still developing, practically a teen. She had aged, worry made her look older. And while for some women, this was a nightmare and curse, it was her greatest blessing and disguise.

She let her security lax over the years, letting her daughter go outside and play like children should be allowed to do. She left the cloak at home, at first by accident, then she forgot to bother with it. People knew her by name, but no one connected this woman with the one he had been searching for years before. No one knew and Vanilla had though it would stay that way.

She had enjoyed the peace, and almost forgotten him. Almost only because she had a constant reminder of their time together, no matter how much she loved her. He had come. It had taken him six years to do so, but he had come in the end.

She had just gotten back from the market a little while earlier, and was cutting up fresh garden vegetables for dinner when she heard the noise outside her home. Something stirred in her memory, and she had the sense to tell her daughter to stay to the house while she went outside to see what was happened. She didn't take the small laser she'd stolen from his fortress back when she'd escaped him. Three or four years ago, she would've.

She had screamed, she knew that. She hadn't been able to hear herself above the sounds of his machines, loud and droning. It didn't matter to her, she had screamed until her voice was hoarse, had kicked and swung her fists, had even given him a few bruises before she was restained and taken away. And still, she had screamed as she was dragged away from the home and security it had taken her six years to build.

Later she had been very quiet, sobbing as he trapped her in his machines to take her back. Back to her horrible nightmare. Yet, she could not help but be hopeful, for none of his robots had captured her little daughter. She at least, was free to live without the terror her mother was going through. Cream had a number of friends in the village, somebody would find her, help her survive, Vanilla was sure about it. She worried, yes she worried. But she was happy and hopeful, for her daughter would not experience six years worth of revenge that had built up in him. He constantly spoke of what he would do to her when they returned, and she could not bear to listen.

But it had never come to be.

Somehow her daughter, the little girl who she'd told to hide, had come after her. She had brought others as well, friends of hers. One who was his sworn enemy for far longer than Vanilla knew. They had saved her, and Vanilla and her little girl had been reunited. He had fled, promising his vengence still. She had wept, but for joy and not pain.

_She always did take after him..._

It was true, for though the little girl favored her mother in looks, her eyes were the same color as her father's, as his. And she was clever, remarkably so, even though it was a hidden sort of cleverness. She would find little ways of showing it, hiding in places no one ever thought of, learning to do things without ever being taught. She had his mind capabilities, in a softer, more gentle way, and if he had known, met her as she was, Vanilla had no doubt he would be proud.

He would've wanted her beside him.

Her daughter would never do such a thing, for though she did not know it, she hated her father. Finding who he was, who she was, would disgust her, and make her even more unwilling to be near him. Vanilla worried, though. Even as she slipped out of her house and sat down on the porch steps, looking up at the stars overhead.

A star fell and she felt a slight breeze ruffle her hair. _A wish should be made_, it whispered, and she smiled, closing her eyes. As always she wished for many things, that her daughter and her friends would always be safe, that someday this battle with her mind and his shadow would end, that there would still be a morning to wake to tomorrow. As always, she wished for many things.

But most of all, she wished that no one would ever see behind her smile.

* * *

Well, that was kinda weird and pointless, but strangely exhilarating to write about. Throughout the entire thing I kept bursting out in laughter, probably because how strangely sensible this whole thing works, though as a semi-devoted Ivo fan (semi cause I like Shadow more and Ivo was kinda manipulative of the poor guy...hmmm...a fic with Shadow and Ivo... -is shot-), I can't help but think I made him seem a little savage....then again it's from Vanilla's point of view, so that might be part of it. She might see him that way. Still seems a little OC, and still somewhat dumb... O-o I think perhaps I have some hidden sadistic tenedencies in my blood somewhere.

Shadow: Hell, I _know_ you do.

Do be quiet Shadow, before I'm forced to do something drastic.

Shadow: Like what, praytell? Need I remind you how very UN-evil you are? I mean, if you were hit by a laser that separated your good and evil sides into two people--

Sonic: Like what happened to CH while she was in prison...

Shaodw: Yeah, like that--your evil side would be prancing around in a pink bunny costume, while singing that stupid song about the moon in June, and the spring.

How would _YOU_ like to prance around in a pink bunny costume, and sing about the moon in June, and the spring?!

Shadow: -gulp- Point taken.

Right. -looks to readers- Don't forget to review on your way out, and go read that other fic Bil and I put out recently, _Vous Êtes Trop Tendu_, because it's a _SWAT Kats_ fic (by Bil) and chances are you'll really like it. I think it's hilarious, personally. Well, see ya, and review, all right? ....please?


End file.
